October has gone by so fast. I know time seems to be going by quicker all the time, but it really feels like this month started, I blinked, and October was gone. We were so busy this month. I’m sure it will only get worse as the year comes to an end!

October was filled with a lot of work towards potty training. We’re starting to make some headway, but it’s been a lot of work! He’s just so stubborn!

We also had family pictures taken which, although I haven’t seen them yet, I think will turn out great. Zachary had some done in his Halloween costume and they should be really cute. We may have even gotten some good ones with him and grandpa.

Zachary went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and my grandma’s, where I trick-or-treated when I was little. It’s a great little neighborhood and I prefer to take him there. He was so adorable. We had a hard time getting him to say trick-or-treat, so instead he just said hi to everyone when he went to the door. But he did say thank you!

We went to the pumpkin farm and decorated pumpkins. Zach picked out a nice little one for himself and we took a big one to carve. Zach wasn’t interested in touching any of the goo inside, but he did want to look and just sort of observed from a distance. I tried to get him to paint his pumpkin but he didn’t want to, so it ended up half painted just from what I did trying to get him to try!

Why a monthly grateful post?

So often we get stuck in the day-to-day hustle and forget to acknowledge what’s really important. If someone were to ask “What’s most important to you?” we would be quick to respond with things like family, friends, being a good person, and so on. Unfortunately, we allow ourselves to get sidetracked a lot and temporarily “forget” our priorities. Unanswered emails clamor for our attention, deadlines and “to-do” lists clutter up our minds and steal our attention. As a way to temporarily silence these outside distractions, I like to look back over the past month and remind myself what is beautiful in my life. I try to identify three things that have happened in the past few weeks that I am grateful for and recognize them. I remind myself that these small moments are what make up my life and have value. And for them, I am grateful.

Let’s get into what I’m grateful for this month…

What I’m Grateful for in August

1. Zachary is starting to catch on and show interest in potty training.

It’s been slow, but he’s finally starting to show a little more interest. In the beginning, he didn’t care if he had an accident, didn’t seem to recognize when he needed to go, and never wanted to try. Now he’s trying every time we ask, usually without argument. He’s told us several times he needs to go, and sometimes he’s right. He also isn’t getting upset every time we try to go somewhere other than home. There are still a few times he gets upset when we go into a public stall, but most of the time he’s okay. We’re nowhere near being fully potty trained, but it’s so much progress made since the beginning of the month! We might try another staying in, underwear only weekend this month and I think it might go a lot differently than the first one we tried!

2. Zachary is staying in the crib even though he now knows he can escape

A couple of weeks ago, Zach escaped his crib during naptime. He is a pro at it now. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to have all that much interest in getting out most of the time, so it hasn’t been an issue. We were so sure once he figured it out that we’d need to get him a bed and that would be the end of solid sleep for any of us for a while. Thankfully, he’s totally content still.

3. We found vegan donuts at a local bakery!

On a whim, I decided to try to look into what vegan restaurant option we have in the area. To my surprise, one of the local bakeries is pretty well known in the online vegan community for having completely vegan donuts! As it turns out, they changed their recipe a few years ago and it’s all they serve now! They only have two or three that are not vegan, and everything else is! How cool is that?

I’d love to hear about some of the things you’re grateful for and looking forward to! What are you grateful for last month?

Link up to your own gratitude posts below!

-To your Better Life-

1. 1. Kira